


Momma Keith

by RiRiMania1335



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: College AU, Hunk and Pidge are roommates, Hunk the pharmacist, Lance and Keith are roommates, Sick Lance, They all share an apartment, actually, and pidge being pidge, klance is you squint, lots of pop culture references, modern setting au, mom mode Keith, relationship up to interpretation, the events of the fic came straight out of my day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9886430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiRiMania1335/pseuds/RiRiMania1335
Summary: Lance gets sick and it activates Keith's inner mother.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So you know when you wanna write a short little 1K fic and it turns into a 4k beast of a drabble...yeah. Thats how my life is going. 
> 
> Okay, so my roommate got sick and I just really wanted to write it because it reminded me so much of Voltron and like, wow. So I pumped this garbage out in about an hour and a half. All the events and dialogue are taken exactly as they happened to me.

Keith awoke to the sounds of shuffling from the bed across the room. It was late, the middle of the night. And usually when he woke up in the middle of the night, it was because of a nightmare or because his body wasn’t used to sleeping for long periods of time. But this time, it was because his roommate was tossing and turning under his own covers. 

Maybe Lance was just readjusting in his sleep. He did that sometimes. Keith knew because he’d often heard Lance do it. There were many nights when Keith stay up late, due to homework, insomnia, or just lost track of time. But Lance was always an early sleeper. He needed his sleep, roughly nine hours a night. And Keith respected that. He was perfectly happy with lights out by 10. He was content scrolling through his twitter feed or watching Netflix with earbuds until the early hours of the morning. And since he stayed awake, he was very well accustomed to Lance’s sleeping habits. 

Sometimes Lance moved. But not like this. A constant sound of shuffling and turning. And coughing. Did Lance have that cough yesterday? 

Keith turned over in his own bed, reaching for his phone around the mattress. The screen lit up and filled his corner of the room with bright LED lighting. Squinting, he stared at the screen. It was a little after 3:30. He’d only slept for about 2 hours. He could definitely use a few more. 

Lance must have seen the light from his phone. “Why are you awake?” He asked, thick rasp in his voice. Keith wasn’t sure if it was from the coughing or just residual sleep. 

Keith cleared his throat to get his own voice to work. “I just woke up.” He admitted. And before Lance could counter, Keith spoke again, “Why are you awake?” 

“I can’t fall asleep.” Lance admitted. “My head is pounding. And my stomach hurts.” 

Keith was still clouded by sleep, but he was conscious enough to understand what Lance was saying. But Keith blamed it on the sickening amount of fried food he had for dinner. “You want a painkiller for the headache? Or an antacid for your stomach?” Keith was awake enough to offer. He knew he at least had that in his little first aid kit. But if Lance wanted anything more, Keith would go and raid Hunk’s mini pharmacy. 

“No, I’ll be okay.” Lance responded. And Keith wasn’t sure if Lance declined out of spite, or if he genuinely thought he’d be okay. Whatever the reason, Keith just grunted in affirmation. 

“Okay. If you change your mind, my first aid kit’s in the bottom drawer of my desk. Help yourself.” Keith readjusted his blanket and turned back over. If Lance was really sick, he could deal with it in the morning. 

Keith was just starting to drift back to sleep, adjusted to the sound of Lance coughing, when he heard more shuffling from the bed. But this time, it sounded like Lance was getting up. Maybe Lance really wasn’t feeling well. “Going somewhere?” He spoke as he heard Lance move about the room. 

“I’m going to sleep on the couch, so I don’t keep you up.” Lance coughed again. Keith turned back over and looked at Lance, carrying his pillows and blankets with him. 

“You don’t have to. If you’re sick, you should stay in your bed.” Keith objected. Though he knew that Lance wasn’t going to listen. 

“No, no. It’s okay. I’ll be fine. You just go back to sleep.” Lance instructed as he made his way over to their bedroom door. 

Keith just laid back down, “Okay. I’ll be in here if you need anything.” Lance never responded. Keith heard the door to their room open and close. It wasn’t long before he fell back to sleep. The next time Keith awoke, it was to the sounds of his two other roommates rushing around. He checked the time again, it was nearly 8:00. He’d figured that they were running late for their 8 AM classes again. And knew that if they were still there, he still had another 45 minutes to sleep. 

He turned over and looked at the empty bed on the other side of the room. Only then did he remember that Lance was out on the couch. Noticing that Lance’s bookbag and keys were still on the floor, he’d figured that Lance planned on skipping. 

A few more minutes of sleep and some phone scrolling later, Keith finally got out of bed. It was 8:50, and he had his first class at 9:30. He kept to the room, getting dressed and packing his bag before he went out to their shared bathroom. He peeked into their living room before going off to the bathroom. He noticed Lance was awake, scrolling on his own phone tucked under the covers. It did not look very comfortable. “Hey, Lance. I’m done in the room, so you can go back in.” He approached gingerly, trying not to startle his friend. 

Lance looked his way, but didn’t respond. Instead, he buried himself under the covers even more.

“Did you ever fall asleep last night?” He asked.

Lance coughed, “No, but I’m finally caught up on Supergirl.” He admitted. Keith huffed before turning back towards the bathroom. He could further check on Lance after he took care of his morning breath. 

By the time Keith left the bathroom with clean teeth and combed hair, Hunk was back home and already shoving some form of medication down Lance’s throat. Literally squishing his cheeks together to get the small pills in. That was Hunk’s way. He was always the first to help when anyone in their apartment was sick. He had enough motrin on hand to cure an entire elementary school, along with bottles of cough syrup in different flavors and tons of cough drops. Literal mountains of cough drops. Most of them would avoid letting Hunk find they were feeling under the weather for this exact reason. As much as they loved mother hen Hunk, sometimes it could be a bit much. 

But when Keith rested a hand on Lance’s forehead, it was clear that he needed those pills. “You’ve got a fever, Lance.” He so elegantly pointed out. 

“Your hands are just cold.” Lance protested. Hunk and Keith exchanged a look before Hunk took Keith’s hand in his own. 

“Nah, Keith’s hand is pretty warm if you ask me. Well, not warm like fever warm, but like, regular temperature warm. You know.” Hunk pointed out. 

Keith’s hand pulled away from Hunk and went back to Lance’s forehead. “You’ve got a fever, would you just take the pills so Hunk and I can get to class and you can fall asleep.” At that, Lance loosened up and dutifully accepted the pills from Hunk. With the pills swallowed, Hunk breathed a little easier. “Thank you. Now Hunk and I have class. You better be asleep in your bed by the time I get back.” Keith warned with very little bite. 

“Is he having trouble sleeping? I have some Nyquil in my room I can give him.” Hunk pointed out. 

Keith checked the time on the microwave, “Not right now, Hunk. We’re going to be late.” 

He stated as he pulled the larger male out of the apartment.

Keith was back before noon, having finished his test a little early. He turned to look at the couch, which was empty. That was a good sign. Lance must have gotten up and went back to bed. He noted that Hunk’s bag was on the ground and the door to his room was closed, so he was likely also napping. 

Keith stood awkwardly by the door. He didn’t want to risk waking Lance by going into the room, but his laptop, his XBox, and his ipod were there. And it was very uncommon for Keith to spend any time alone in their living room. He usually went straight home and straight to his room. But he decided to make an exception. He sat down on the couch and pulled his phone out of his bag. It was still at 62% battery. He’d manage. 

Three long hours of scrolling and mindless games later, Pidge returned home. Keith greeted her kindly, but she looked back with a confused glare. “What are you doing out here?” She asked.

“Lance is probably asleep in our room. I didn’t want to wake him.” Keith confessed, though he didn’t understand why he had to provide a reason for sitting in their shared living space. 

“Is he still sick? I saw him out here when I left this morning.” She asked, and Keith just shrugged in response. He wasn’t sure how Lance was feeling. Maybe someone should check to make sure he’s okay? “Okay, well, where’s Hunk?”

“Pretty sure he’s napping too.” Keith smirked at the look of betrayal on Pidge’s face. 

“Alright then, I’m just going to play Overwatch.” Pidge plopped herself down in her favorite chair and turned on the TV. 

“You sure that’s a good idea. You always scream when you play that game.” Keith wasn’t very familiar with the game. He knew Hunk and Pidge enjoyed it. And he knew a little bit about the characters just from listening to them to talk about it. But as far as the objective, the plot, the mission - he was clueless. And no matter how many times he watched her play, it never made any more sense. 

“I’ll try to be quieter this time, I swear,” was her brilliant rebuttal. Keith watched as she logged onto the game. 

He only had to shush her twice. 

Eventually, Hunk joined them out in the living room. And he also asked Keith why he was sitting out there. And Keith again, responded with his reasoning. After getting on the defensive about whether or not he was welcome in his own apartment. The three of them sat in quiet company for a while before Lance stumbled out to join them. He immediately beelined for the couch and laid down, resting his head on Keith’s lap. Keith mindlessly carded his fingers through Lance’s hair. 

“Did you email your professors about missing class?” Keith asked, pressing the back of his hand against Lance’s forehead. Still running a fever. 

Lance coughed into his fist, “Yeah. I emailed them at 4 in the morning when I couldn’t sleep.” He nuzzled himself further into Keith’s lap. 

Hunk stood up and went back to his room. Keith presumed it was to get more medicine to shove down Lance’s throat. But when Hunk shut the door behind him, Keith ruled that idea out. He probably went to work on his homework

“I hit my head on the wall twice.” Lance mumbled into Keith’s lap. “Once on the windowsill while I was trying to close the window. Then on the wall behind my bed after I fell off the windowsill.” He admitted sadly. “It really hurt.” 

Keith immediately perked up. The last thing they needed was Lance to be concussed. Pidge turned ever so slightly to look at them. “Where’d you hit your head.” 

Lance’s hand flew up. He placed them on his forehead, “I hit my frontal lobe,” then his hands moved to press against the back of his bed, “And my occipital lobe.” Keith couldn’t help but chuckle. That development course he took was the worst thing that ever happened in their apartment. But despite his amusement, he still checked Lance’s head for bumps. Nothing on his forehead, nothing on the back of his head. 

“Any dizziness?” Keith asked, having Lance follow his finger with his eyes. That’s one way to check for a concussion, right?

“I felt dizzy getting out of my bed.” Lance admitted. Keith wasn’t sure that was enough evidence. His eyes seemed to follow just fine, and his pupils were no different than normal. It was probably just the lightheadedness associated with the headache Lance had that morning. 

“Any nausea.” Keith asked, just to be sure. 

Lance just shook his head. “Hey, Pidge,” He called out to their friend. Sometime between then and now, she’d gone into the kitchen. “Can you grab me a pack of peanut butter crackers?” 

“Sure thing.” Pidge was already sifting through the pantry. 

Keith thought maybe Lance should eat something else. Something nutritious and warm, and not like sandpaper against his throat like those dry crackers would be. But he kept it to himself. If Lance wanted crackers, Lance would eat crackers. But, he vowed, Lance would have soup before the night’s end. 

Pidge delivered the crackers. And Lance ever so silently begged Keith to feed them to him. Keith really didn’t have a choice. So with only a slight groan of disagreement, he ripped open the plastic wrapping and pulled out the first cracker sandwich. He aimed it to Lance’s eagerly opened mouth and watched as he nearly swallowed the thing whole. “Hey, smaller bites.” He scolded. Pidge giggled. Mom Keith was one of Pidge’s favorite. 

To further emphasize that Keith was going into mom-mode, Lance retaliated with a soft, “Yes, mom” and took a bite from the cracker, chewing it slowly. Keith, again, just huffed as he fed Lance the second cracker. Before long, all the crackers were gone. 

“Hey Lance, since you’re up, wanna watch the second episode of the witch show?” Pidge asked, turning off her video game and opening Netflix. At that point, everyone knew there wasn’t much of a choice in the matter. 

“Sure, that’s cool.” Lance turned onto his side to better see the TV, head still rested on Keith’s lap. Keith had since pulled out his cell phone again, now running very close to 20% battery. He had no interest in the witch documentary the two had recently started watching. But with Lance’s head in his lap, he couldn’t just get up and go to his room. So he passed the time with more scrolling, looking up to witness an execution every once in awhile. His other hand still petting Lance’s sweaty hair.

Lance’s attention didn’t last long; barely a half hour into the episode. Keith started to notice his drifting into sleep on his lap. He wasn’t about to wake Lance. The poor boy was up all night. He needed the sleep. Though he wanted to take Lance back their room, where he could sleep on his much more comfortable bed. Presumably, Lance had a similar idea. 

“Hey,” He opened his eyes over so slightly, “Can we go watch Garfield?” Keith knew that was Lance’s way of asking to go back to the room without hurting Pidge’s feelings. Not that she would mind, she would probably just go back to playing Overwatch. 

“Yeah, we can go watch Garfield.” He smiled slightly as he helped Lance to sit up on the couch. Based on the way Lance swayed, Keith assumed he was still dizzy. He remained close by as Lance grabbed the film and hobbled back to their room. He sent Pidge a quick smile before leaving. Keith heard the documentary turn off almost immediately. 

Lance put the disc in his gaming system and crawled back into bed, with only a little bit of help from Keith. When Lance was situated in his bed, Keith hopped into his own. He immediately set his phone on the charger and grabbed his laptop. As much as he enjoyed a good animated cat movie, he needed to work on the papers he had due this week. 

Keith was only half paying attention to the movie. He’d spare a few glances at Lance throughout just to see if he was still awake. Usually, he would comment on every scene. But Keith figured he wasn’t really up for commentary given his current health state. Nearly twenty minutes in, Lance stopped the movie. “You’re not watching it.” Was his argument. 

“I’m doing homework. And I was, like, half watching it. They just adopted the dog, Odie.” Keith refuted, still typing away on his laptop. 

“No, you’re not watching it. So you don’t like it. We can put on something else.” Lance already had the controller in his hands, and lazily so. “What do you want to watch?” 

Keith knew any argument at this point would be pointless. Lance was determined to change the show, no matter how much he wanted to watch Garfield. “We can watch whatever you want to watch,” was his reply, as it usually was. 

“Make a decision. Do you want to watch Rupaul's drag race again? Or -” 

“Lance, just pick whatever you want to watch. I’m writing papers, so I’m only going to be half paying attention.” Keith tried not to sound too frustrated; he knew Lance was only trying to be considerate. 

“I wonder if Jimmy Neutron is on Hulu?” He asked, mostly to himself. Keith peeked over the top of his laptop screen and saw the Hulu app open up. After Lance typed in his search parameters, the nickelodeon cartoon popped up, displaying three seasons of episodes. “Do you wanna watch Jimmy Neutron?” Lance asked and Keith could feel a vein pop in his forehead. But he remained calm enough to answer. 

“Sure, I used to love this show.” He breathed as calmly as he could, still trying to focus on his papers. (But with childhood nostalgia playing on the TV, he knew that would get pretty difficult).

Lance picked a random episode in season 3 and curled up under his covers, the control abandoned. Keith figured Lance was just going to let this play until either the PS4 turned itself off or someone (namely, Keith) manually ended it. Two episodes passed and Lance was fast asleep in his bed. Keith somehow managed to avoid the distraction enough to finish and submit his assignments. 

He figured he would leave Lance to sleep for a while. Not wanting to make any noise, he remained still on his bed and went back on his laptop. This time, just scrolling through forums while listening to music much quieter than he usually would. He remained entertained for awhile until he noticed Lance shoot up in his bed. “Lance. What’s wrong?” Keith asked, pulling his earbuds from his ears. 

“I’m an assassin.” Lance muttered ever so calmly. Keith could see the daze in Lance’s eyes and figured maybe it was time for another dose of medicine. Where was Hunk when you need him? 

Closing his laptop and setting it aside, Keith hopped off his bed and rushed over to Lance. “No, you’re not.” He reminded as he placed his hand on the back of Lance’s forehead. The fever still hadn’t broken. And Lance was noticeably sweating buckets. 

“You’re hands are so cold.” Lance pointed out and Keith just rolled his eyes. 

“We’ve been over this. You’re just really warm.” He bit his bottom lip. Maybe Lance didn’t remember their conversation from that morning. “I don’t care what you say, Lance. If your fever hasn’t broken by tomorrow, I’m taking you to health services.” 

Lance didn’t counter, so Keith noted that as a silent victory and an unsigned agreement that Lance would go without complaint. In a quick motion, Keith went to retrieve his first aid kit. He didn’t have nearly as much as Hunk, but he had some pills. Painkillers, fever reducers, exactly what Lance needed. He poured two from the bottle and urged Lance to take them. 

Lance was reluctant at first, insisting he didn’t need any. But then he complied, washing them down with a few small sips of water. “Hey Keith,” Lance coughed out as Keith helped him lie back down in his bed. 

“Yeah.” 

“I wanna play Assassin’s Creed.” Lance reached for the controller on his bedside table. Keith nodded his head ever so slightly. That must have been where the assassin comment from before came from. 

Keith took the controller before Lance managed to grab it. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Why don’t you go back to sleep. I can make you some soup, if you want.” 

“Keith, I just slept. I want to play. Please.” The small pout on Lance’s lips eventually cracked Keith’s facade and he handed the controller back to Lance. 

“Alright, where’s the disc.” He sighed as he walked over the the PlayStation. After a lengthy description of where the disc was located and how to eject the Garfield DVD, Keith finally got the disc in and watched as Lance started playing the game. He noticed how Lance would seem to get dizzy watching the assassin jump from high buildings, and how he couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of the stealth mission. But he was having fun either way. 

Keith managed to tune Lance out almost entirely, plugging his headphones into his ears and unplugging his phone from the charger. Lance played for a while, longer than Keith had expected him to. But eventually, Keith noticed the PS4 home screen popped back up and seemed to stay there. Keith immediately pulled his headphones out, worried he had missed something Lance said. 

“I’m gonna go make soup.” Lance said as he pushed the covers off himself. 

Keith immediately jumped up and over to Lance’s bed. “Like hell you are.” He protested as he struggled to get Lance to stay in his bed. “Just, let me make you the soup, okay.” 

Lance vehemently protested. He kicked the covers off the bed and flailed around, trying to escape. Keith decided then on a new tactic. He bolted for the kitchen, knowing it take Lance some time just to get out of bed, let alone to the kitchen. What he hadn’t expected, was for Lance to chase after him with the most effort he’d seen Lance give all day. 

Keith made it to the kitchen first and managed to grab the can of soup Hunk had set out earlier. But when he opened the drawer for the can opener, a slender dark hand reached in and snatched it before he had the chance. “Lance, give me the can opener.” 

“Give me the soup.” Lance coughed back his protest. 

Keith refused, holding the can further away. “No. I’m trying to be a good friend and make my sick roommate some soup.” There was absolutely no way he was going to let Lance win this one. He knew Lance could be stubborn, but he could be just as stubborn. Either Keith would make the soup, or there would be no soup at all. 

The stand-off lasted another few minutes before Lance finally caved and handed the can opener to Keith. “Good. Now get back in your bed. I’ll bring you the soup when it’s done.” He attempted to escort Lance back to the room, but Lance seemed to have it on his own. “Do you want some tea?” Keith asked. 

“No, thanks.” Lance called back. Keith could hear Lance’s bed creak the way it did when he climbed into it. With that taken care of, Keith turned his attention back to the can. He quickly opened it and poured its contents into Lance’s favorite batman bowl before throwing it in the microwave for a few minutes. 

He paced the length of the kitchen while he waited for the microwave to beep. And when it finally did, he ignored the warning to leave it sit for a minute and went right in after it. How hot could it really be after only two minutes? The answer - very. But Keith sucked it up, stuck a spoon in it, and carried it back to Lance. 

“Thank you,” Lance smiled. “You really didn’t have to do that. I could have made it by myself.” Keith was sure that Lance could. He seemed to be in much better shape than he was earlier that day. But Keith didn’t want to take any chances. And besides, he kind of liked taking care of Lance. 

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind. You should just focus on getting better.” Keith smiled back as he walked back to his side of the room. “I’m going to go take a shower, okay? Just, uh, yell if you need anything.” Lance shook his head and Keith grabbed his towel. 

When Keith left the shower, he tiptoed back into their room. Lance was asleep again, empty bowl of soup on the bedside table. Grabbing the empty bowl, he walked back out to the kitchen, then to the common room where Pidge and Hunk sat. Keith plopped beside them on the couch. 

“How’s Lance?” Hunk asked. 

“Sleeping. He ate the soup, and I gave him some medicine a little while ago. Hopefully he sleeps through the night.” Keith explained, and the two seemed content with that answer. They sat around for awhile in near complete silence until they heard a loud gurgling sound. 

“Keith.” Pidge paused for effect, “Was that your stomach?” 

Keith tried to be discreet about it, but the blush in his cheeks betrayed him. “Maybe.” 

“What did you have to eat today?” Hunk asked.

Keith had to think about it. What did he have to eat? Did he even eat anything? Now that he was thinking about, he was so consumed with Lance all day he hadn’t even stopped to think about eating. And the hunger was just now starting to catch up with him. “Uh, nothing.”

Hunk and Pidge nearly burst out in laughter. It was typical for Keith to forget to eat when he went into mom-mode. “Come on, man. Let’s get you something to eat.” Hunk suggested. 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I may have lied before. Not all of this fic was the events of my day. Everything really happened except for the ending with Hunk, Keith, and Pidge. I just needed some way to appropriately end this fic. But the logistics of that scene is true though. I haven't eaten at all today. And I'm probably going to do that as soon as I post this. 
> 
> But damn. Now I'm obsessed with the idea of momma Keith. Keith just being all domestic and shit. MMhm I love it! Maybe I'll take more events of my roommates and translate them into fics like this. Because this was fun to write. My friends actually have these characteristics, making fics like this pop into my head all the time! 
> 
> And I've been meaning to write a VLD sickfic for a while now. Because I think they are the cutest fics! I actually have another one in the works, but it's not finished yet. I'm giving that one a lot more TLC than I gave this one. Haha, that should be done soon though. 
> 
> Also, I used a lot of pop culture and references in this fic, because they were part of my day. Just a disclaimer - I own absolutely none of that. I really own nothing at all. All just references. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the fic! Kudos and Comments are always appreciaited! And yeah, we should totally talk Voltron some time!! Seriously, I need friends!


End file.
